What made Tom visit the Ewells house

🏠

Subjects

➗

🧪

🏛️

📺

🤝

💻

💰

📚

Resources

📓

🏆

💯

❓

🔀

🎭

The trial continues, with the whole town glued to the proceedings. Mayella, who testifies next, is a reasonably clean—by the Ewells’ standards—and obviously terrified nineteen-year-old girl. She says that she called Tom Robinson inside the fence that evening and offered him a nickel to break up a dresser for her, and that once he got inside the house he grabbed her and took advantage of her. In Atticus’s cross-examination, Mayella reveals that her life consists of seven unhelpful siblings, a drunken father, and no friends.

Atticus then examines her testimony and asks why she didn’t put up a better fight, why her screams didn’t bring the other children running, and, most important, how Tom Robinson managed the crime: how he bruised the right side of her face with his useless left hand, which was torn apart by a cotton gin when he was a boy. Atticus pleads with Mayella to admit that there was no rape, that her father beat her. She shouts at him and yells that the courtroom would have to be a bunch of cowards not to convict Tom Robinson; she then bursts into tears, refusing to answer any more questions. In the recess that follows, Mr. Underwood notices the children up in the balcony, but Jem tells Scout that the newspaper editor won’t tell Atticus about their being there—although he might include it in the social section of the newspaper. The prosecution rests, and Atticus calls only one witness—Tom Robinson.

Summary: Chapter 19

Tom testifies that he always passed the Ewell house on the way to work and that Mayella often asked him to do chores for her. On the evening in question, he recounts, she asked him to come inside the house and fix a door. When he got inside, there was nothing wrong with the door, and he noticed that the other children were gone. Mayella told him she had saved her money and sent them all to buy ice cream. Then she asked him to lift a box down from a dresser. When Tom climbed on a chair, she grabbed his legs, scaring him so much that he jumped down. She then hugged him around the waist and asked him to kiss her. As she struggled, her father appeared at the window, calling Mayella a whore and threatening to kill her. Tom fled

Link Deas, Tom’s white employer, stands up and declares that in eight years of work, he has never had any trouble from Tom. Judge Taylor furiously expels Deas from the courtroom for interrupting. Mr. Gilmer gets up and cross-examines Tom. The prosecutor points out that the defendant was once arrested for disorderly conduct and gets Tom to admit that he has the strength, even with one hand, to choke the breath out of a woman and sling her to the floor. He begins to badger the witness, asking about his motives for always helping Mayella with her chores, until Tom declares that he felt sorry for her. This statement puts the courtroom ill at ease—in Maycomb, black people aren’t supposed to feel sorry for a white person. Mr. Gilmer reviews Mayella’s testimony, accusing Tom of lying about everything. Dill begins to cry, and Scout takes him out of the courtroom. Outside the courtroom, Dill complains to Scout about Mr. Gilmer’s rude treatment of Tom Robinson during the questioning. As they walk, Scout and Dill encounter Mr. Dolphus Raymond, the rich white man with the Black mistress and mixed-race children.

Analysis: Chapters 18–19

Mayella Ewell is pitiable, and her miserable existence almost allows her to join the novel’s parade of innocent victims—she, too, is a kind of mockingbird, injured beyond repair by the forces of ugliness, poverty, and hatred that surround her. Lee’s presentation of Mayella emphasizes her role as victim—her father beats her and possibly molests her, while she has to deal with her unhelpful siblings. She has lacked kind treatment in her life to such an extent that when Atticus calls her Miss Mayella, she accuses him of making fun of her. She has no friends, and Scout seems justified in thinking that she “must have been the loneliest person in the world.” On the other hand, though, Scout’s picture of Mayella as a victim is marred by her attempt to become a victimizer, to destroy Tom Robinson in order to cover her shame. We can have little real sympathy for Mayella Ewell—whatever her sufferings, she inflicts worse cruelty on others. Unlike Mr. Cunningham, who, in Chapter 15, is touched enough by Scout’s human warmth to disperse the lynch mob, Mayella responds to Atticus’s polite interrogation with grouchy snarls.

Read more about the symbolism of mockingbirds.

Pity must be reserved for Tom Robinson, whose honesty and goodness render him supremely moral. Unlike the Ewells, Tom is hardworking and honest and has enough compassion to make the fatal mistake of feeling sorry for Mayella Ewell. His story is the true version of events: because of both Tom’s obviously truthful nature and Atticus’s brilliant and morally scathing questioning of the Ewells, the story leaves no room for doubt. A number of critics have objected that the facts of the case are crafted to be—no pun intended—too black and white. But, as Atticus’s awareness of his defeat as a foregone conclusion suggests, Lee was not interested in the believability of the trial. The exaggerated demarcation between good and bad renders the trial more important for its symbolic portrayal of the destruction of an innocent by evil. As clear as it is that Tom is innocent, it is equally clear that Tom is doomed to die.

Read more about why the jury finds Tom Robinson guilty.

Link Deas represents the diametric opposite of prejudice. The fact that Tom is black doesn’t factor into Deas’s assessment of him; rather, he is particularly conscientious about scrutinizing Tom only in respect to his individual character. However, just as the court refuses to accept the undeniable implications of the evidence that Atticus presents, so too does it refuse to accept the implications of Deas’s validation of Tom’s character. The judge expels Deas because his interjection during the proceedings threatens the integrity of the formal manner in which court proceedings are run; the grim irony, of course, is that the blatant prejudice of the trial does so as well, though the judge does nothing to alleviate this prejudice.

The reader is spared much of Mr. Gilmer’s harsh cross-examination of Tom when Dill’s crying takes Scout out of the courtroom. Dill is still a child, and he responds to wickedness with tears, much as the reader responds to Mr. Gilmer’s unabashed prejudice with disgust. The small sample of his cross-examination that Scout and the reader do hear is enough. Calling Tom “boy” and accusing him at every turn, the racist Mr. Gilmer believes that Tom must be lying, must be violent, must lust after white women—simply because he is black.

Read more about how the tone of the book changes in these chapters.

Tom Robinson went to the Ewell’s house because Mayella said “I will give you a nickel if you would chop up the chiffarobe.” Also I think that Tom went because mayella was tired and went to rest and take a break. And I think because Tom see her doing all the work around the house and want’s to help her. The reason scout think that Mayella Ewell is cut off kid because As stated on page p.256 “when Atticus asked if she had any friends she thought he was making fun of her.She was as sad, I thought as what Jem called a mixed child; white people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she live with the pigs. Negroes wouldn’t have anything because she is white.”Also I think that she has no time to make friends. The reason Mayella relationship

In order to continue enjoying our site, we ask that you confirm your identity as a human. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

Chapter 191.) What made Tom visit the Ewell’s house in the first place?- Tom Robinson was on his way home from working on the farm, and since he has to pass by the Ewell's house everyday, Tom visited the house because Mayella asked her to do a job for her, in which Tom, just wanted to help her, went into the house and did the jobs for her. 2.) Why does Scout think that Mayella Ewell was “the loneliest person in the world”?- Scout thinks she is the loneliest person in the word because she has no friends, she doesn't talk to her siblings, she has no mother, she takes care of the house by herself, she is socially excluded, and that her dad does not care about her. Her dad does not care about her because he did not care if she was okay and did not call a doctor at all. 3.) Describe Mayella’s relationship with her father.- Mayella's father does not care about her, like when her father calls a police rather than calls a doctor after Mayella was bruised. Her father spends all the money that the family gets for alchahol, while Mayella, being the maternal figure because she takes care of the house and children and she is the oldest, spends the money to get the children some ice cream.4.) How does Mr. Gilmer’s treatment of Tom contrast with Atticus’ treatment of Mayella in the previous chapter?

- Atticus's treatment toward Mayella when she was in the stand, was very polite towards her, to the point that she feels uncomfortable because no one is polite to her. When Mayella is crying, Atticus lets her cry for awhile and lets her calm down. So Atticus treats Mayella with respect and care.

6.) Why does Dill become sick?

Chapter 20

2.) In most states in America people who drink alcohol in public places are required to hide their bottle in a paper bag.  Why does Dolphus-Raymond hide Coca-Cola in a bag?

3.) What, according to Atticus, is the thing that Mayella has done wrong?

4.) Explain, in your own words, Atticus’ views on people’s being equal.

Chapter 21

- Jem expects that the verdict will be that Tom will be innocent. However, Atticus is unsure because he doesn't want to be disappointed and have his hopes crushed if he thinks that Tom will be innocent. 

- The jury takes an excessively long time to reach a verdict. The verdict is predictable because of the time era of the story was in the time that segregation had a strong influence, so the colored people would typically lose

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

- It shredded his last credibility that Bob Ewell had, and that Bob needed some kind of comeback against Atticus. And if it saved a beating for the children, Atticus felt that it was worth it. 

- Circumstantial evidence is based on words, or hear or say, like gossip. . It has to do with Tom's conviction because no one actually saw Tom raping Mayella, or Mayella tempting a negro. 

- Mr. Cunningham makes the jury take a long time because he is defending Tom against the jury, and acquit the charges on Tom. 

- Aunt Alexandra believes that the Cunninghams are trash. They are good because they defended Tom, they were ethical, and the knew the difference between right or wrong. But she sees the Cunninghams as beneath her and the Finch's, therefore they are trash.

Chapter 24

- Since the tribe, Mrunas, are African American, no ones wants to go to them or help them except J. Grimes Everett. So they probably aren't sincere because they pity the people and only want to keep up their appearances and do their "christian" work.

- The ladies of Maycomb seem to like gossip a lot, and talk about everything around them and everything that is happening. This is probably the reason why Scout likes men more than woman because she believes that the woman are hypocrites. The woman in Maycomb believe that it is a bad thing to set the slaves free and treat them almost fairly, and that treating different people differently is a good thing. However, they also assist the tribe, the Mrunas, because no one else will, in pity, "they weren't....Hypocrites." (p. 234) 

- Tom was trying to escape over a fence, and the guards at the prison were warning him to stop. They shot the air a few times to scare him, but as Tom continued to climb over, the guards shot Tom seventeen times and killed him. If Tom had both arms, he would have made it. Atticus' explanation for Tom's attempt on escape was that Tom lost hope, that he was tried of the white men's chances and decided to take his own chance. 

- We see Aunt Alexandra change because we see she is compassionate about Tom and his wife and family when she feels sad when Tom dies. She is also upset that the town is making Atticus be the person to do everything the town doesn't want to do. Atticus is doing the dirty work, and the town puts all the problems on Atticus, which she feels upset and protective for. 

Chapter 25

- The contrast that Scout draws between the court and the secret courts of men's hearts is that while the court appears and acts as a fair trial, in the men's hearts, they are all against Tom Robinson and are not fair towards him. 

Chapter 26

- The odd thing about what Miss Gates says is that she believes that it is revolting and morally wrong when Hitler persecutes the Jews, but it is fine to persecute the black people in her own town. So she is portraying a strong hypocrisy. 

3.) Why does Scout’s questions upset Jem?  Is there a simple answer, or any answer, to the question “How can you hate Hitler an’ then turn around an’ be ugly about folks right at home?”

Chapter 27

- The first thing that Bob Ewell does that alrms Aunt Alexandra is that he breaks into Judge Taylor's house through the back door without permission. Bob Ewll also harasses Helen Robinson while she is trying to get to work, that she has to walk the long way and can't use the public road because Bob would then "chunk" her off the road. And lastly, when he got a job, he was immediately fired a few days later for laziness. 

- According to Atticus, Bob Ewell bears a grudge to anyone that he finds was involved with the Tom Robinson case or shredded his credibility at court. He went against Judge Taylor because the judge had a bad attitude against Bob like sneering or letting the case go on. Bob Ewell also went against Helen Robinson even if she had nothing to do with the case. He holds a grudge because when he persecuted Tom Robison, he thought the town would think of him as a hero. But it backfired on him because everyone already knew he was trash, a racist, and creepy that he had a grudge on people involved in the court. 

Chapter 29

- The shiny clean line was the shiny paint that Mrs. Crenshaw put on Scout's Pork costume

- Atticus' explanation for Ewell's attack was that he was crazy and insane, or "mean as hell," for being brave enough to try to kill children. 

4.) Why should the reader not be surp

- Atticus strongly thinks that it was Jem that stabbed Bob Ewell in defense from himself and Scout. 

Chapter 31

- The first sentence of the novel tells that when Jem was thirteen, he broke his arm. But the final chapters leads up and explains that sentence, saying how he broke his arm and what happened afterwards.

- It isn't that much surprising that Boo is caring and shy, but also strange, being a grown man and is still scared of walking home by himself in the dark. It isn't surprising because there were several things that Boo has done to assist the children while being hidden, like giving gifts and saving their lives, that lets you realize he is a good person.